


Integrity

by Miranda_Jones



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling, Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe, BAMF Hermione Granger, BAMF Pepper Potts, F/F, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Rare Pairings
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-05-29
Updated: 2018-08-07
Packaged: 2019-05-15 18:36:20
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 7,134
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14795798
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Miranda_Jones/pseuds/Miranda_Jones
Summary: Hermione moves to New York after the war, and when SHIELD recruits her, she isn’t exactly surprised. Granted, she has never heard of the organization, but it is high time somebody noticed how awesome she is. Hermione wouldn’t say that she’s a snob about her awesomeness, but she’s spent her entire schooling in Harry’s shadow (not that it’s his fault). It’s time for her to shine. Then shit starts happening in Afghanistan and then in Malibu, and now Hermione has Pepper Potts on her mind, in a way that she's never thought about anybody before.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Assume the timelines are cohesive for hand wavy plot reasons.

 

When SHIELD recruits Hermione, she isn’t exactly surprised. Granted, she has never heard of the organization, but it is high time somebody noticed how awesome she is. Hermione wouldn’t say that she’s a snob about her awesomeness, but she’s spent her entire schooling in Harry’s shadow (not that it’s his fault). It’s time for her to shine.

Maria Hill recruits her. Hermione _kind of_ breaks the Statue of Secrecy when Maria Hill comes to a coffee shop in which Hermione is reading a volume of Shakespeare’s complete works and says Hermione’s name because Maria Hill is on the floor in three seconds flat and Hermione discreetly tucks her wand away, says, “Oh, no, somebody had better call an ambulance,” and gets the hell out of there, but since Maria Hill already knows about magic, no secrets are leaked. In hindsight, Hermione could have been so much more discreet about the whole thing, but she just survived a freaking _war,_ so excuse her for jumping to conclusions when a complete stranger knows her name in a city that she’s lived in for less than a week.

Maria Hill shows up on the doorstep of Hermione’s tiny apartment looking irritated, with her hands up, and dryly says when Hermione cracks her door open, “Don’t stun me, I just want to recruit you to my super secret spy agency.” Hermione can’t help but to be intrigued.

It goes like this: SHIELD recruits her to be a consultant on All Things British and Magical because they are super nervous about the civil war that just ended and a historically unreliable government. Hermione gives Maria Hill an unimpressed look and tells her that she is too smart and not to mention skilled to just be a consultant. Nobody ever said that good things came to people who didn’t ask first. Besides, she hasn’t lined up a job yet in New York City, so she wants whatever paycheck she’s going to get to have a little more cushion. So now Hermione is both a consultant on the magical British government as well as a full time researcher and brand new junior agent in training. It’s a pretty brilliant gig. Hermione is learning how to be even more badass than she already is.

It goes like this: Hermione will always love Britain and she will always believe in hope and in phoenixes being reborn from the ashes. But Hermione also firmly believes that she needs distance to heal from a long year of camping and not eating well and from watching her classmates die in front of her eyes and from thinking her best friend dead. Hermione and her parents haven’t gotten on since she was eleven and her Hogwarts letter came, and the distance was only widened when Hermione wiped her parents’ memories, something that she may never forgive herself for, even after they were restored. That, combined with a breakup, and a family that had lost one of their own who also needed space and time and love to heal, convinced Hermione that she needed to learn how to be happy with herself again. So Hermione packed her bags and moves to the city that always seems to playing host to a number of lost people, and decides to try her luck.

Hermione’s first friend is Maria Hill. Hermione can’t help but be attracted to Maria’s no nonsense approach to life, and how she is unafraid to be unapologetically badass in a room full of gits who are all convinced of their own importance. She meets Clint Barton next. They meet in the cafeteria of headquarters while Hermione is contemplating the merits of plain spaghetti versus chicken. She meets Phil Coulson when Barton invites her to sit with them for lunch.

In the end, Hermione’s plate of spaghetti goes completely ignored as she watches Coulson and Barton interact with fascination. She wonders how Barton convinced Coulson to go on a date because Coulson is exactly her type of person and Barton quite literally came from the circus. Then she remembers that she and Ron had given it a go (and spectacularly crashed and burned). After further contemplation, Hermione realizes that Phil Coulson is a giant nerd and that Clint Barton is more clever than he looks, as well as someone who massively appreciates Coulson for who he is and doesn’t constantly deride his intelligence.

Barton is balancing a banana, three oranges, and an apple on his nose and Coulson is reading The New York Times and trying not to smile when Natasha Romanoff comes to their table and plucks the apple from Barton’s stack and takes a bite. Barton quacks as the rest of the fruit comes tumbling down on top of his head.

“Nat! You ruined my center of gravity!”

Coulson has completely lost his resolve not to smile as he is chuckling and the newspaper is abandoned on the table.

All traces of humor disappear from the table as Romanoff unceremoniously seats herself across from Hermione and says, “Why were you hired, little girl? You don’t seem to have existed before two months ago.” Her stare is cold and penetrating, and Hermione unconsciously shores up her Occlumency defenses.

But Hermione has also passed the point of being intimidated by people (re, battle hero from civil war) so she raises her eyebrows at Romanoff and says, “Excellent spy work.” Barton chokes on a laugh behind her.

“I do not like you, little girl,” Romanoff declares. “Nothing good comes from those with no past.” 

Hermione decides that she does not like Romanoff herself. She also decides to take the high road and to ignore her. After seven years of Draco Malfoy, ignoring treats is surprisingly easy, even though Romanoff could probably kill her before she could even draw her wand. Hermione will take her chances.

Natasha glides off—that’s really the only word that could describe it—and Hermione turns to face Coulson and Barton, her eyebrows still raised. Coulson has a suspiciously blank face while Barton’s muffled chuckles have turned into full scale guffaws.

“Either of you care to explain?”

Barton pauses only long enough to say, “Congrats, you survived Natasha,” before he starts laughing again.

“You weathered it very well,” Coulson says, which is probably supposed to be reassuring, but Hermione isn’t taking any brush offs.

“Natasha likes being in the loop,” says Barton.

“There’s being in the loop and there’s being a twit,” says Hermione. And then just because she’s being petty: “If she really wanted to be in the loop she should have run for president.”

Barton actually falls out of his chair he’s laughing so hard.

“So what’s the deal with Natasha Romanoff?” Hermione asks Maria Hill later when they’re both pretending to be working on a research project about The State of the Magical World at Hermione’s apartment but really making mojitos. Of course they’re billing SHIELD.

“I don’t like her,” says Maria immediately. “She’s effective but she’s not nice. And who the hell knows what her real motivations are. But Clint brought her in and vouched for her, and Phil backed him up, and Fury eventually bought into the whole thing. But who really knows?”

Hermione decides that she needs to feed Maria Hill rum on a more regular basis. She also takes half a second to reflect on how nice it is having a female friend. 

“She’s probably fine,” Maria continues. “I just find her methods and need to know attitude questionable. And Phil’s emotionally compromised by the whole thing since he and Clint are attached at the hip.”

“So they’re dating then,” Hermione muses. “I totally called it.”

Maria snorts. “Oh, please. It’s been thick with sexual tension around here for years. You just showed up after they admitted their undying love for each other so you got to miss all of the awkwardness.”

Hermione’s gut has had moments of incorrectness (but she still maintains that she was correct about the Firebolt thing — it really _was_ sent by Sirius Black. How was she supposed to know that he’d been framed?) but she ultimately decides to maintain a certain level of wariness around Natasha Romanoff. At least she has magic and with a PTSD fueled reaction time she might be able to gain one over Romanoff.

……

Harry laughs hysterically the next time he drops in unannounced and Hermione tells him that she’s found employment as a secret agent.

“I never imagined you to be the next James Bond,” he says as soon as he’s managed to recover himself. 

“Humph,” Hermione tells him. “Warn me next time you’re coming. I could have been having sex.” This sends Harry off again.

Harry ends up staying a few days, so Hermione takes off work to spend her time with him. He’s trying to escape the Weasleys, as it so happens.

“Ron’s been unbearable since you left, and Ginny’s been trying to convince me to go out with her again, but I don’t know. I don’t know if I even liked her in the first place,” he confesses as they’re taking a walk in Central Park. “And Mrs. Weasley is, well, hovering. I think she was set on the idea of you marrying Ron and me and Ginny also getting married.”

Hermione listens sympathetically, while trying to wipe off the mustard that’s smeared on her cheeks from her hot dog.

“Well, you can always stay here as long as you need to,” she tells Harry, slipping her hand in his. “I’ve missed you.”

Harry rests his chin on her head, and they enjoy the moment, each alone with their thoughts and hot dogs.

Hermione leaves Harry on her couch the next morning sleeping off the jet lag (Portkey lag?) to find absolute chaos in the cubicles of her floor at SHIELD. She bypasses her desk completely and heads for Maria’s office. Phil is already there, and both are intently watching what looks like handheld camera footage of some kind of explosion and a desert.

“What’s going on?” Hermione asks, and then clears her throat and asks again when both agents completely ignore her.

“Tony Stark was in Afghanistan doing a missile demonstration and his convoy was targeted,” Phil finally answers. “As of right now, he’s missing, presumed dead.”

Hermione has heard of Tony Stark. He designs weapons for the United States military, and consequently, also for SHIELD. “So what is SHIELD doing about it?” she asks.

“Keeping an eye on things,” says Phil. Hermione is pragmatic enough not to ask any more questions.

Weeks later, Hermione walks into work again to find a similar state of chaos. This time she doesn’t need to track down Maria to figure out what is happening, as the monitors surrounding the bullpen are each blaring the same message: “Tony Stark Found Alive.” There is footage of an explosion, again taking place in a desert, and Hermione is impressed despite herself. Tony Stark has a flair for explosions.

She sees Phil making his way purposefully towards the exits and moves to intercept him.

“Can I come?”

“No.” 

“Oh, come on, Phil. I can be charmingly British. Stark probably has a thing for an accent.” 

“It’s not Stark we’re trying to sweet talk here, it’s his assistant.”

Hermione has also heard of Pepper Potts, the scarily competent PA of Stark’s who has somehow managed to retain her job as compared to previous Stark PAs. But she hasn’t been practicing her puppy eyes for nothing, and does an internal fist pump when she sees Phil’s shoulders slump. “Fine. But let me do the talking.”

Hermione doesn’t do more than smile at Phil’s side when he introduces them to Pepper Potts before Tony Stark begins speaking, though she internally snorts when Pepper comments on the organization’s ridiculously long name. After the brief talk with Potts, wherein Hermione simply smiles serenely at Phil’s side, Hermione can’t help but say, “Nice, Phil. You really got through to her.”

“Shut up. It’s not like you helped.” Internally, Hermione is delighted that she’s managed to get past Phil’s blank stares and levelheadedness that most people see when encountering the man.

All chances for more talk are quickly destroyed when Stark drops a bomb, well, an environmentally friendly and nonviolent verbal bomb on the press and the rest of the world. Hermione can even see the flickers of astonishment on Phil’s face. Seconds later, Phil’s phone begins to ring. Hermione ignores Phil, though, for the sake of watching Pepper Potts, who is looking increasingly frazzled while Obadiah Stane wrestles Stark off the podium.

“Does he do this often?” Hermione asks.

Pepper doesn’t even look at Hermione. “Send everyone into a tizzy? Yes. On this scale though…” Potts trails off and then shakes her head as if to clear it and then looks at Hermione properly for the first time. “I don’t think we’ve met.”

“Hermione Granger.”

“Pepper Potts. You’re with the Strategic—”

“It’s SHIELD. They like to go with the long name at first encounter because they think it sounds more impressive. Personally, I don’t see it.”

This inspires a half smile out of Potts. “I’m sorry, but this just isn’t the best time,” Potts diplomatically says.

“Of course,” Hermione says, and hands Potts her SHIELD business card. “Go wrangle.” Hermione is rewarded with ahalf smile, and then Potts, Stane, and Stark are gone within five minutes, leaving behind a room of stunned journalists eagerly talking amongst themselves. When Hermione rejoins Phil, he’s hanging up his phone.

“I hope you packed an overnight bag,” he says. “It looks like we might be here for a while.”

……

The thing about Hermione is she’s never been confident in her sexuality. She had enjoyed Viktor’s advances in the way that nobody had ever seen her in a pretty and romantic light before, and the thing with Ron, well, she thought she’d been in love with him for years, but upon giving it a go, Hermione wasn’t about to force herself to become less of a bookworm or less intelligent just to stroke Ron’s ego. And she had thought that Ron agreed with that — the terms of their breakup had been amicable enough, but then Harry had come to visit and now Hermione isn’t so sure. Okay, she conceded that the entire Weasley family was traumatized by the war and— no. Hermione forced her brain to stop. But no matter what she did, she couldn’t get Pepper Potts out of her head.

Hermione’s only erstwhile companions have been those found in the pages of a book, and even then, the only times she’s ever allowed herself to read for pleasure have been on the hols. Still, the point is that Hermione wouldn’t exactly call herself an expert in love, or even in relationships. That being said, Hermione has Pepper Potts on the brain.

Pepper Potts is confident, unapologetically herself, and is able to handle one of the most frustrating men in existence. Pepper Potts is also smart; she went to Stanford, graduating summa cum laude with a degree in economics, and was hired by Tony Stark personally because she found a mistake in the work from Stark’s accounting team. Okay, maybe Hermione went a little over the top with Google, but also she feels completely justified by how alluring Pepper is. Also, nobody ever said that Hermione doesn’t thoroughly research the subjects in which she is interested.

……

Hermione and Phil are given a small motel room with one double bed. Hermione looks at Phil when she pushes the door open, and he shrugs embarrassedly.

“Fury’s in a mood since I somehow didn’t see this one coming,” he says. “This is probably some form of punishment. Also, I technically wasn’t supposed to bring you.” 

“Fury is the most intimidating twelve year old I’ve ever met,” grumbles Hermione.

“You’re not wrong.”

“So what’s the plan?” Hermione asks, walking over to the bed and dropping onto it. She can deal with sharing a room with Phil for the foreseeable future. At least she won’t be questioning when their next meal will be.

“The plan is for you to keep your nose to yourself,” says Phil. “Hopefully this will be over soon enough and we can both get back to Headquarters.”

Hermione huffs a sigh. “Alright then.” She can find her own fun.

Phil does end up having a busy week. Hermione spends most of hers taking long walks on the beach with Harry, who Portkeyed over on Hermione’s suggestion of taking a vacation in California. They spend a morning in Disneyland, giggling over the “magic.” Hermione has never felt so carefree. Apparently all it took was a war and joining a super secret spy agency for her to loosen up a bit.

Harry, meanwhile, has apparently officially broken it off with Ginny. “She actually took it really well,” he says. “Said that she’d thought as much herself, but thinking of me got her through a lot of the year at Hogwarts.”

Hermione smiles to herself as she observes Harry’s red cheeks. She would hazard a guess that the two get back together within a few years.

“I mean, it was the same for me when we were in that tent for so long, so I think she understood the whole thing. In the end I think it’s better for the both of us to learn how to be ourselves without Voldemort hanging over both of our heads.”

Hermione is both ridiculously proud of Harry for being so mature and sad that they both had to grow up so quickly. Harry is still putting himself through Auror training, though, so he only stays for the rest of the week, even though it looks like Hermione’s vacation has been extended for the foreseeable future with a bunch of terrorists dying explosive deaths and Stark acting suspicious.

“You ought to hop on the next plane to New York,” Phil tells her, and Hermione rolls her eyes at him.

“What do you want me to do?”

“Voluntarily signing up to deal with Stark, that’s a new one,” says Phil.

It turns out that Hermione doesn’t have to do much at all, as Pepper Potts ends up calling her, saying that Stane was behind the entire plot to kill Stark and is probably going to try again later that night. This translated roughly into help me help Stark right the fuck now. Hermione calls Phil, and then Apparates to Stark’s massive beach house and rings the bell. Nobody answers, so Hermione lets herself in.

“Ms. Potts? Mr. Stark?”

“Please identify yourself and explain how you accessed the building,” a voice says, and Hermione jumps, drawing her wand. SHIELD has been trying to train her to reach for her gun first, and it’s not like Hermione doesn’t understand the logic not to mention the Statue of Secrecy, but also guns cause bullet holes no matter where you aim while wands offer a bunch of different responses. Like tickling. Even seasoned Death Eaters drop with a well aimed Rictumsempra.

When Hermione doesn’t see anything beyond the entryway of Stark’s mansion, she cautiously takes a few steps forward, freezing again when the voice says, “Please identify yourself and explain how you accessed the building.”

“Erm, Hermione Granger with SHIELD?” Hermione asks the air. Admittedly she’s been out of the loop with technological advancements, but if she’s actually talking to some sort of robot, that’s a bit farfetched.

“Agent Granger, be advised that Ms. Potts and Mr. Stark are currently at Stark Industries with Obadiah Stane. Ms. Potts and Mr. Stark are both in considerable danger,” says the voice.

“Thank you,” Hermione tells the air firmly, and then she turns on her heel. She arrives outside of Stark Industries just as Phil and a bunch of other SHIELD agents she barely recognizes come running. Hermione is very firmly pulled to the side and told to “stay out of it,” instructions that are ignored once the agents have run into the building.

Hermione finds Potts on the roof doing something with the arc reactor and two giant robots who are doing their level best to smash each other to bits. Two robots are literally fighting. Hermione needs to read more science fiction novels because too many outlandish things have happened in the last hour for her brain to accept, and she’s sure with acclimatization she will be able to roll with the punches more.

Even with Hermione ignoring Phil’s instructions, however, Hermione and Phil and the rest of the agents only witness the end of the fight, which concludes with Pepper Potts being distinctively wicked as well as some impressive work from Stark. Really, at this point, it looks like all SHIELD can do will be to deal with the cleanup.

One thing that Hermione is completely convinced of, however, is that her crush on Pepper Potts has gone past being innocent to becoming a full-fledged monster that is yawning in her chest.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Everyone had come out of the war a little broken, a little cynical, and Hermione is no exception. It’s just that now, she has a reason to open her heart a little.

Tony Stark tells the world he is Iron Man, and Phil mutters, “I don’t even know why I bother coming up with cover stories for that man.”

Hermione had told Phil as much the night before, so she rolls her eyes at him and goes to stand next to Pepper, who hadn’t looked remotely surprised at Stark’s unwillingness to comply with SHIELD and the military when it came to creating an alter ego.

“So,” Pepper says when Hermione is desperately racking her rains for something charming and witty to say. “Some very interesting security footage turned up from last night.”

Hermione isn’t quite sure what Pepper is talking about, so she waits for her to make her point.

“You surprised J.A.R.V.I.S., well, as much as that’s possible, when one moment you were in the mansion, and the next you disappeared into think air. Now,” Pepper continues, her eyes pinning Hermione into place just as effectively as her words, “usually I would blame a technological malfunction, but we both know that Tony’s own house out of all places isn’t likely to experience that major of a camera error, and also, your disappearance quite coincidentally marks the same exact moment that you appeared out of thin air in front of SI.” Pepper finished her speech, and Hermione is caught for a loop in front of her, feeling completely mortified. She hasn’t destroyed the Statue of Secrecy like this, well, ever.

Stark, however, conveniently chooses the moment to breeze into the room with his usual hurricane of chaos and Hermione is momentarily saved. Not completely, though. She isn’t stupid enough to think that the conversation is over. Beyond that, Hermione is in a brand new country, with different laws than the ones she’s used to. Britain has always had looser rules with the Statue than the United States, but Britain also just got out of a major civil war that was based on blood status. Maybe there was some logic involved with MACUSA’s stricter rules. Regardless, Hermione escapes to a quiet corner of the room while Pepper and Phil are being absorbed into Stark’s chaos and calls Maria.

“Hill.”

“Maria, I’ve been made.”

“As far as I knew, you aren’t undercover. Also I’m regretting showing you all of those spy movies.”

“I accidentally broke the Statue to Pepper Potts and probably Stark when I Apparated and it was caught on their security cameras.”

There is some muffled cursing in the background, and then Maria says, “Agent Granger, you are most definitely smarter than this.”

“I know,” Hermione snaps. Yes, she made a mistake, but nobody likes being reminded of the fact. She hears Maria muttering to herself and decides that she owes Maria a nice bottle of wine. Or a massage. Or both. Finally, Maria says, “Dammit, Hermione. You’re going to have to obfuscate or something. Even if you wiped their memories we wouldn’t be able to wipe that security footage if we tried.”

“Sorry,” says Hermione contritely. She hangs up and turns around to find that Phil has left the room and Pepper Potts and Tony Stark both staring at her. Hermione gulps despite herself.

“So what’s the answer, Phinnochio?” Stark asks. “Wait, so you’re an alien? Oh my god, Pepper, a real life alien is here on Earth!” Stark turns back to Hermione. “You’re remarkably well adjusted.”

“I’m sorry,” Hermione says. “I really can’t tell you.”

“Ha!” says Stark. He looks as if he has just unlocked one of the great secrets of the universe. He is rocking back and forth on the balls of his feet and clapping his hands together. “A mystery! I love mysteries!” 

“You don’t know what you just unleashed on yourself,” Pepper tells Hermione. “Now he’s going to want blood samples.”

“I can deflect well enough,” Hermione says, thinking back to third year when she completely confused Ron and Harry for the better part of a year. Then she mentally compares Tony Stark to Ron and harry and winces. Pepper catches the wince and laughs.

“Thank you,” says Pepper. “For helping with last night,” she clarifies when Hermione looks confused.

“Oh, you’re welcome,” Hermione says. “Just doing my job.” She kicks herself inside. Damn Maria and her stupid spy movies.

Pepper’s eyebrows are raised and there is a hint of a smile on her lips. Hermione would bet her last paycheck that Pepper knows exactly what’s going through Hermione’s mind.

“Come to dinner with me,” Hermione blurts out. She turns red immediately after the words pass her lips. To make matters worse, Stark’s head has snapped up from where he had been staring at his phone and he is looking between Pepper and Hermione with narrowed eyes.

“Are you absconding with my Pepper?”

“I was never yours, Mr. Stark,” says Pepper. She smiles at Hermione. “I’ll see you at 5:30.” Hermione gives Pepper a big grin and then hurries for the door before she can embarrass herself any further.

Phil is smirking at her when she finds him waiting for her at the car.

“Shut up,” Hermione tells him before he’s even managed to open his mouth.

“You don’t even know what I was going to say!”

Hermione hasn’t put it past Phil’s super spy skills to discover her heard doing an enthusiastic tap dance because Pepper agreed to dinner. She has no come back prepared, though, so she says, “Shut up,” once more for good measure.

Phil chuckles and responds, “Agent Granger, you obviously need more training if you let a secret that spectacularly big out of the bag like that.” Hermione winces for the second time that day. Phil, like Fury, is especially creative when it comes to creating punishments that agents will remember. Hermione decides to hold on to the last shreds of her dignity and climbs into the car without another word.

Hermione hadn’t wanted to tell Phil what she was up to, so instead of finding a car to borrow, she Apparates about a half mile away from Stark’s ridiculous mansion and walks to the front door, hoping desperately that Pepper would be at Stark’s as the two hadn’t exchanged numbers. (She could have done some sleuthing and found it, of course, but it rankled with Hermione in the wrong way. Hermione sighs to herself. She really needs to get a phone that isn’t under SHIELD’s watch.) Never let it be said that Hermione can’t learn from her mistakes.

The voice greets Hermione again when she knocks on the front door and it swings open of its on volition. This time it knows her name.

“Greetings, Agent Granger. Ms. Potts has been alerted of your arrival and will be here momentarily.”

Hermione is no less taken aback than she was the first time, but her parents had always impressed on her the need for good manners so she says, “Thank you,” and looks around the foyer of Stark’s ridiculous house.

“You’re welcome,” says the voice, and now Hermione can’t contain her curiosity.

“Sorry, who are you?”

“I am J.A.R.V.I.S., Just A Rather Very Intelligent System,” says the voice. “Mr. Stark created me.”  
  
“Nice to meet you,” says Hermione.

“Thank you, Agent Granger.”

Pepper has now walked into the room wearing short cut jeans and nice blouse. Hermione smiles at her, and Pepper smiles back.

“Tell Tony not to wait for me, and that I’ll see him tomorrow,” Pepper says to J.A.R.V.I.S. 

“Yes, Ms. Potts.” Pepper smiles once more and gestures towards the front door to Hermione.

“What’s on the agenda tonight?” Pepper asks Hermione once the door closes behind them.

“I don’t have a car so I figured we could take a walk on the beach and find some food.”

“Ah, the mystery grows,” Pepper says. “No car, secret vanishing skills. Good thing I’m wearing tennis shoes.” Hermione beams.

It’s only when they find themselves at a burger joint on the beach that the conversation begins to falter for the first time. Hermione had taken on look at the menu and balked at the price, cutting off her rambling explanations of her decidedly abnormal schooling. She must be silent for too long, though, because Pepper puts her hand on Hermione’s and asks what is wrong.

Hermione blinks away memories of not enough food and trying to make meals from practically nothing and Ron storming off into the night—

“Hermione?”

“Sorry,” says Hermione quickly. Pepper still looks concerned so Hermione swallows through her suddenly dry mouth and tries to explain. “It’s just, there was a time, a really bad time back in England, and, well, me and Ron and Harry—they’re my friends from back home—and well, we never had enough food. And now—” 

“You see the prices and…” Pepper’s voice trails off but Hermione nods. It’s nice not to have to spell everything out. Still, everything had been going so well, and Hermione hopes that she hasn’t ruined it all. Pepper carefully takes the menu of out Hermione’s hands and smiles at her. “I’ll just order for the both of us, shall I?”

Hermione’s smile is shaky but no less grateful. Hermione is embarrassed to have a hang up about food. All of the psychology books and self help books that she has read tell her that her feelings and reactions to extreme trauma and stress are valid and normal, but knowing and accepting are two different things. She is jumpy and nightmare prone, just like Harry and Ron, but sometimes she goes to the grocery store right after being payed and is amazed by the quantity of ready made food that would be easy for her to duplicate. She’s sure she’s never going to try her hand at cooking again.  

There are a few beats of silence between them until Pepper breaks it by saying, “My brother calls once a month asking how much I earn for letting Tony sleep with me and then asks me to send him money.”

“Pepper…” says Hermione, but she can’t quite finish saying what she means to, that while trust is a two way street, one minor panic about the expense of a hamburger doesn’t justify Pepper sharing her demons before she is well and ready. 

“No it’s okay. My brother is an asshole and my parents weren’t really any better, but that’s besides the point. All I’m saying is, well, we all have our own crosses to bear, and you never have to be embarrassed. I’m not perfect, but I promise I will do my best to listen and to understand.”

Hermione squeezes Pepper’s hand in response. “Thank you,” she whispers, and her heart gives a little flutter, because Pepper can’t be anything less than perfect.

……

When Hermione is summoned back to New York the next day, it is the first time that she wishes she could take a break from learning how to be a secret agent. She’s still succeeded in buying a personal mobile and exchanging numbers with Pepper, but Hermione had been well aware that she would be stupid to expect a relationship to go any further than it already had. Still, Hermione can’t help the curl of disappointment that unfurls in her stomach when Phil tells her the news. Then she tells herself to stop being stupid. She is a witch, after all. Beyond that, Hermione Granger has never backed down from a fight when she feels strongly about it, else she would have quit knitting elf hats as soon as it became apparent how unpopular SPEW was.

Everyone had come out of the war a little broken, a little cynical, and Hermione is no exception. It’s just that now, she has a reason to open her heart a little.

 _I hope I didn’t lie to Tony,_ Pepper texts Hermione just as she’s boarding the plane to head back to HQ.

_What did you tell him?_

_When he was trying to hire me I told him I didn’t do one night stands,_ Pepper responds. A smile curls at the edges of Hermione’s lips, and she’s glad Phil is in the cockpit hovering.

 _I don’t either,_ she finally replies and smiles again when her phone buzzes quickly after.

 _I’m glad we’re on the same page._  

……

Hermione buys herself a long distance multiple use Portkey between Malibu and New York the next chance she gets. The next weekend, when she calls Pepper after Apparating to a discrete side alley next to a coffee shop, Pepper laughs out out in surprise and delight.

  
“How did you get here so fast? No, wait, you probably can’t tell me, I’ll take the rest of the afternoon off and come get you.” 

Hermione counts it as a victory to be able to surprise one of the most competent people she knows. Later, they celebrate over strawberry banana smoothies, and when Hermione kisses Pepper, she still tastes like smoothie. Hermione knows that she could produce a brilliant Patronus with memories like these.

“You are a mystery,” Pepper tells Hermione later that night while they are still tangled up against each other on Pepper’s bed. After their smoothies they had wandered around a part of the city that was becoming gentrified but trying its best to pretend not to be, and Hermione had spotted at used bookstore and grabbed Pepper’s hand, dragging her inside. Pepper had laughed and followed Hermione without complaint.

“What’s your favorite book?” Pepper had asked.

“Anything by Tamora Pierce,” Hermione answered immediately, and then blushed when she realized that it wasn’t as academic or intelligent as someone who knew her better might have suspected. Something about Pepper makes her want to answer with honesty. “At the boarding school I went to, the library there only had academic books, so I learned to read them for fun, but whenever I came home I would read my collection of Tamora Pierce that my parents gave me, and they eventually fell apart.” Hermione smiled wistfully to herself. “I’m not actually sure where they are now.” 

Pepper then took Hermione’s finds to the counter and asked the attendant if they had any Tamora Pierce books and insisted on adding a few to Hermione’s stack and paying for them all. Hermione had kissed Pepper right there in front of everyone and Pepper had laughed at Hermione’s enthusiasm.

“Is that an issue?” Hermione asks, dragging her mind to the present as she traces the curve of Pepper’s breast with the tips of her fingers. Pepper shivers, and Hermione smiles. They seem to navigate their relationship, new as it is, with touch and smiles, and it thrills Hermione for reasons she doesn’t quite understand.

Pepper’s red hair is framing her face and it looks delightfully mussed as she answers. “No. Maybe sometime later. But not today. It’s exciting, and I have this feeling that you’re a woman of integrity, and that I can depend on you.”

Hermione’s smile dwindles, and she leans over to kiss Pepper tenderly and softly. “I hope I can do right by you,” she whispers, thinking of her parents who are barely talking to her after restoring their memories and then thinking of Pepper’s red hair, which glows like an aura when the light shines right. She kisses Pepper again.

Neither of them keep consistent hours, par for the course with the assistant of an erratic billionaire and a consultant for a spy agency, but they make do the best they can. Hermione has more consistent hours than Pepper as she’s technically only a consultant, so she comes to Malibu every weekend. While Pepper’s attention is usually occupied by Stark, Hermione takes advantage of something new, something exciting, something fun. Hermione knows that her friends and colleagues at SHIELD have noticed that something is going on, but they haven’t asked and Hermione is content to keep Pepper to herself for the time being. Maria had made a snide comment about Hermione’s secret boyfriend, but that had been the closest thing to the truth floated about.

Well, that wasn’t strictly true. Hermione _had_ told Harry (she and Ron have since evolved to exchanging letters but have not yet reconciled in person). But Harry hadn’t had time to care overly much about Hermione’s love life; Hermione is half convinced that Harry will come to New York himself to escape the craziness in Britain. Apparently he’s being wooed by the Ministry and Hogwarts alike to join their staff, plus he’s more famous than he ever was so he can’t get a spare minute. As it stands, Hermione knows that Harry escapes into Muggle London on a regular basis.

Pepper can’t tell Hermione about a lot of the particulars of her job, and of course the same applies two fold to Hermione, but it works for them, and Hermione feels settled and content for the first time in a long time. She should have known better than to think it would last.

……

The world isn’t divided into good people and Death Eaters, Hermione tells herself. Governments are also ridiculously easy to corrupt, especially government agencies of dubious morality.

It’s just hard not to take things personally.

Hermione isn’t stupid; she’s been watching the news and keeping her eyes on the tabloids, and Pepper had been increasingly busy and frazzled lately. She knows that Tony Stark’s behavior has become increasingly erratic. So it shouldn’t surprise her when Pepper is promoted out of the blue to CEO of Stark Industries, and it really shouldn’t surprise her when Stark’s new PA is none other than Natasha Romonoff.

What Hermione can’t figure out is what SHIELD hopes to gain from this. There had been whispers of intellectual theft when Stark’s parents died under suspicious circumstances, so maybe SHIELD is hoping to do something similar again? Not to mention that if the scuttlebutt is correct, the current legal battle between Stark Industries and the DOD is about who should have jurisdiction over the Iron Man armor. Maybe SHIELD thinks Stark is dying and want to get free technology out of it, surpassing the DOD entirely?

Hermione is sitting on the second hand couch she bought when she rented her apartment staring at her hands and shakes her head to try to clear it of its morbid thoughts. She lifts her cellphone and stares at it.

Intellectually, she knows that she had been emotionally compromised the second her crush on Pepper had blossomed, and even more so when they had gone to dinner. And she knows that her loyalty should be to SHIELD, for giving her a job and teaching her how to hone her intelligence in different ways than Hermione had previously known to be possible. She also knows that for reasons she doesn’t entirely understand, Pepper Potts will always be loyal to Tony Stark. And now Hermione is caught in the spider’s web.

The thing is, Hermione knows that in order to be an effective employee of SHIELD, one needed a dubious morality. And she knows that Maria has worked for SHIELD since she was practically in diapers, and it is very clear that Maria will not understand why Hermione acts the way she does. Fury would say jump, and Maria would ask how high, and that’s just the way it was.

Hermione also knows that while she has a healthy respect for authority, she also spent most of her formative years under a government that actively discriminated against her and people of her same blood status. And, of course, there’s the small factor that she actively fought in a war against this, and had won. She wouldn’t be able to completely trust the Ministry if she tried. Damn, damn, damn! Why was she stupid enough to think that SHIELD would be any better than the Ministry of Magic? Still, Hermione can’t help but to feel betrayed.

She knows that Maria and Phil and Clint all believe that they have chosen the right side and that they are involved in an organization that is trying to do some good in the world. The world isn’t divided between good people and Death Eaters—shadowy governmental organizations exist too, Hermione tries to remind herself again.

Hermione scrolls through her contacts, finally landing on Pepper Potts. She presses call. After two rings and thinking that Pepper might not answer, she picks up. Hermione heaves a sigh of relief; she might have lost all courage had the call gone straight to voicemail.

“Hermione, now really isn’t a good time—”

“Natasha is SHIELD,” Hermione interrupts.

“What?”

“Natasha, I don’t know what name she’s using, red head, hanging off of Stark’s arm every time I turn on the news and his new PA. She’s an agent." 

There’s some muffled fumbling in the background and then Pepper says, “Shit. What’s her agenda? What’s SHIELD’s agenda?”

“I don’t know, I shouldn’t be telling you this, I didn’t even know she was supposed to go undercover until I saw the news—”

“How dangerous is she?” 

“Very,” says Hermione. “Probably the best we have undercover, but beyond that, I don’t think there’s a person here who could best her in the training ring. But, if I had to guess, she’s on an intel gathering mission, probably to figure out why Stark’s acting the way he is and to try to get her hands on some tech for SHIELD.”

“I think everyone wants to know why Tony’s acting the way he is,” Pepper grumbles. “Hermione?”

“Yes?” 

“Thank you. I know this must have been hard to do.”

Hermione snorts a laugh that sounds almost hysterical. “Yeah. I… What are you going to do about it?”

“I’ll talk to Tony but probably nothing. We’ll keep an eye on her, feed her some tailored info, you know.”

There is a beat of silence.

“Seriously, Hermione, thank you.”

“I should go,” Hermione says, and ends the call. She holds the phone close to her chest for a couple of seconds, heart pounding.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for the comments, they are truly appreciated and valued.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading and for your support!


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